Boerne's Marissa Fernandez stands with her silver medal after her team fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman) less

Boerne's Marissa Fernandez stands with her silver medal after her team fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen ... more

Boerne head coach Humberto speaks to his team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Boerne head coach Humberto speaks to his team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Boerne's Paige Marcell holds the runner-up trophy with her team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman) less

Boerne's Paige Marcell holds the runner-up trophy with her team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen ... more

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Boerne head coach Humberto speaks to his team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Boerne head coach Humberto speaks to his team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Boerne girls soccer team walk by their fans after falling to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field on Thursday.

Boerne girls soccer team walk by their fans after falling to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field on Thursday.

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Boerne's Paige Marcell holds the runner-up trophy with her team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman) less

Boerne's Paige Marcell holds the runner-up trophy with her team after they fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen ... more

Boerne head coach Humberto walks by the fans after his team fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Boerne head coach Humberto walks by the fans after his team fell to Stephenville 2-1 during the UIL soccer class 4A final at Birkelbach Field, Georgetown, Thursday, April. 13, 2017. (Stephen Spillman)

Photo: Stephen Spillman / Stephen Spillman

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Greyhounds come up short in title game

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GEORGETOWN — The final seconds had ticked down moments earlier and the heartbreak was beginning to settle in.

Sitting on the turf at Birkelbach Field, in front of her team’s bench, Boerne senior Marissa Fernandez put her arm around a crying Brianna Barrera and consoled the freshman. A few feet away, in any direction, other teammates sat on the ground, tears in their eyes.

The Greyhounds figured emotional displays would be part of their post-game experience on Thursday. They were certain, though, that the tears would be of joy. They were not.

Stephenville’s Madison Carter scored early in the second half and the Honeybees held on to defeat Boerne 2-1 in the Class 4A state final.

“It really does suck coming all the way over here and losing,” Fernandez said. “As a senior, that’s all you want to do is win every game.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I have those feelings, like I should’ve done this better, I should’ve ran to the ball faster. But it’s all part of the game.”

What was not a part of the game plan was how the contest played out.

Boerne (21-5-1) had overcome allowing an early goal by Stephenville, and endured playing into a stiff breeze, to forge a 1-1 tie at halftime when senior Paige Marcell scored off a pass from Cassie Naiser in the 23rd minute.

It was Marcell’s third goal at the state tournament and 100th for her career. She is the 26th girls player in area history to reach the latter mark.

Seven minutes after falling behind Stephenville, Boerne had seemingly grabbed control and put itself in an advantageous situation.

“We’re a second-half team,” Fernandez said. “We knew we had the wind, we knew we had all of the advantages. We just couldn’t do it.”

Stephenville (25-4), however, did.

The Honeybees stung Boerne barely nine minutes into the second half when Carter pounced on a loose ball inside a crowded penalty area and slotted in the game-winner.

The Greyhounds feverishly tried for a tying goal but could not crack Stephenville’s defense.

Boerne’s last chance came in the final two minutes on a corner kick and free kick. The Greyhounds came away empty on both occasions.

“I think we came back from it as well as we could,” Boerne sophomore forward Mary Kate Snelling said. “I know everybody wanted it. I was thinking (on the corner kick), ‘This is it. This is our last chance.’ I thought we were going to get it in, but it bounced out. That was super-frustrating just because I kind of had that in my head, ‘This is it. We’re going to tie it up, we’re going overtime. It’s our game.’ I think we wanted it more, but I just think we couldn’t execute and got unlucky.”

Stephenville led 1-0 in the 17th minute when Savannah Alford found space in the center of the penalty area and headed in Haleigh Beam’s corner.